Major League Soccer announced Wednesday that the Chicago Fire are one of five teams taking part in Thursday's weight lottery for Brian "Cobi" Span.

Span is a 21-year-old midfielder who was teammates with Fire defender Hunter Jumper for two years at the University of Virginia. Span left UVa after the 2011 season and signed with Swedish Allsvenskan side Djurgårdens.

Thursday's lottery will take place at 9:00am CT with the announcement shortly after.

See below the odds for each team that elected to take part. Odds are determined in reverse order of the standings from the previous 34 games, in this case, the 2013 MLS season:

USsoccer.com caught up with Mike, Jurgen Klinsmann and a few other players after the team's first training session on Tuesday. Check out the video below and see Mike's interview beginning at about 1:20.

I think it was my grandfather that once told me, "When life hands you -40 degree wind chill, you have to stay warm." We were happy to see so many folks brave Monday's #Chiberia cold wearing Fire gear and received a ton of great photo submissions.

Congrats to our winner Jeffrey Neavor (@Neavor4) for his winning tweet (at the very bottom)... Jeffrey's won a 2014 Chicago Fire Winter Pack!

Well, if that photo of Toyota Park doesn’t say it all, it’s frigid in Chicago today. Whether you headed out to work or school or took a snow day and went to the movies, we hope you took the Fire with you to stay warm!

Now it's unlikely that his most recent honor will play any bearing one whether or not U.S. Men's National Team head coach Juergen Klinsmann selects him for January camp in LA and Brazil.

After admitting some surprise at not being called for the team's November friendlies in Europe after his MVP season, Magee did have some interesting things to say about the January camp and somewhat longshot hopes of making the World Cup roster, namely:

“I hope I get called into camp because that’s what I’m now training for,” Magee said. “I’m training to be in that camp and if I’m not, I’ll lie and say I’m getting ready for our preseason.” He added: “Of course I want to be on that World Cup roster. In the past, when I wasn’t called in, it was a little disappointing because I know what I’m capable of doing and know that I could help the team.”

At a Season Ticket Holder Town Hall on December 14, the day before the College Cup final, Fire head coach and Director of Soccer Frank Yallop spoke highly of Shipp, comparing him to a young Mike Magee before insinuating the team would be bringing him in as a Homegrown player by saying, "We'll get him."

A voting panel of 57 former players, administrators and media were polled to determine the list which just so happens to feature three former Fire players in Carlos Bocanegra (2000-2003), Brian McBride (2008-2010) and Eric Wynalda (2001).

Wynalda and McBride, who at one point sat first and second respectively on the U.S. Men's National Team's all-time goal scoring list ran away with the two forward spots while Carlos Bocanegra finished third in the vote among defenders behind Marcelo Balboa and Eddie Pope.

The three Fire representatives on the list have appeared in a combined eight FIFA World Cups, amassed 313 caps and tallied 78 goals for the U.S. Men's National Team.

Notable players missing from the list or rather, those that should get Honorable Mentions include goalkeepers Kasey Keller and Tim Howard, defenders Paul Caligiuri and Thomas Dooley, midfielders Michael Bradley and Cobi Jones and forward Earnie Stewart.

Rated as perhaps the best Mexican player of all-time, Blanco became the first Designated Player in Chicago Fire history when he signed with the Men in Red in 2007. He'd go on to appear in 77 matches, tallying 19 goals and 28 assists with Chicago through the 2009 season before returning to Mexico with Veracruz.

As part of the club's 15th Anniversary in 2012, Blanco was also named as one of the Top 15 players in Chicago Fire history.

Blanco is Mexico's second all-time leading goal scorer, tallying 39 goals across 119 appearances and represented "El Tri" at the 1998, 2002 and 2010 FIFA World Cups.

Most interestingly, the above article also states that one of his planned send off friendlies next year will be in the United States...